1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to loose-leaf notebooks. More particularly, the present invention relates to loose-leaf notebooks that are used to store and retain written documentation and computer disks to which the written documentation pertains.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The personal or minicomputer uses floppy disks or diskettes to store programs and user supplied data. These floppy disks have been widely accepted in two sizes, five and one quarter inch and eight inch. In using a floppy disk as a program source, documentation is supplied as a part of the package purchased by the computer user. The documentation is normally supplied in a separate loose-leaf notebook or bound book.
Various storage cases for magnetic or floppy disks alone have heretofore been known. Examples are various patents issued to R. Egley, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,225,038 and 4,369,879, as well as Design Pat. No. 251,273. It is also known to store magnetic disks in thermoformed containers, as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,864,755 to J. Hargis.
Composite loose-leaf notebooks for storing instructional materials and electronic components are seen in J. Gallaher, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,757. Gallaher also shows separate compartments. The compartments can be released from the notebook. Similar notebooks or catalogs for storing electronic components are seen in J. Cooper, U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,537.
Another notebook is seen in the patent to R. Fulton, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,799 wherein a notebook has two compartments. One compartment receives a notebook and the other compartment receives plastic frames. U.S. Pat. No. 3,837,680 to P. Cimini shows an overlay cover or leaf in connection with a loose-leaf notebook that separates documents stored into two different binders.
Easel-type notebooks are seen in K. Crawford, U.S. Pat. No. 4,355,821; J. O'Brien, U.S. Pat. No. 4,033,652 and E. Petersen, U.S. Pat. No. 3,682,433. An easel notebook with a variation of an overlay leaf or cover is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,740 to A. Bisberg. Bisberg shows the storage of slide transparencies wherein one of the cover leaves has a pair of overlay or enclosure leaves hingeably connected thereto. The Bisberg notebook can itself be bound into another three-ring notebook.
There is an easel-type notebook commercially available built along a principle similar to that shown in Crawford. The commercially available notebook has a fold-line in the cover transverse to a binder ring assembly. The commercially available product stores floppy disks which have previously been stored in plastic sleeves.
None of the prior art shows a hermetically sealed container for the computer disks formed integrally with the notebook itself. The prior art does not provide easy access to the documentation in either a conventional notebook position or a stable elevated easel position.